A bill validator is provided with a conveyer to transport a bill inserted from an inlet of the validator along a passageway when an inlet sensor detects the inserted bill, and a validation sensor is provided in the vicinity of the passageway to scan the moving bill to pick out and convert optical or magnetic feature of the bill into electric signals. In some kinds of bill validators, a centering device is provided to centralize bills of different widths along a longitudinal central axis of the passageway to assure the accurate validation of the bills even of different widths.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,147 issued on Nov. 29, 1994 to Wilhelm Menke et al., discloses a testing device for banknotes that has a testing channel with a transport device and scanning devices for recognizing and checking the authenticity of the banknote. An input channel of variable width is in front of the testing channel. The input channel includes two channel halves, one on either side of the longitudinal center axis of the input channel. The two channel halves can be adjusted synchronously against the force of a spring. In their contact position, the channel halves determine the minimum width of the channel, and in their separated end position they determine the maximum width. A banknote of any type is introduced into the input channel at its locked maximum channel width as far as a passage detector arranged in a starting region of the testing channel. The passage detector unlocks the channel halves, as a result of which the side walls of the channel halves are pressed by the force of a spring against the banknote and align it centrally with the testing channel.
Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 2000-149089 to Y Saito et al., shows a bill handling apparatus that has a centering device provided before a bill validating device, and a transfer device for carrying a bill along a path in the centering device. The transfer device is provided independently from and in communication with a conveyer device provided in the bill validating device, and comprises upper and lower transfer units pivotally mounted on shafts to rotate between the incorporative position for carrying the bill along the path and the opened position for centering the bill. The upper transfer unit is rotated upwardly around one of the shafts in the counterclockwise direction from the incorporative to the opened position, and the lower transfer unit is rotated downwardly around the other of the shafts in the clockwise direction from the incorporative to the opened position to release the bill from the transfer device. Then, the bill is centralized by the centering device that comprises a pair of centering levers rotatable toward and away from each other between original and closer positions, a spring connected to each end of the centering levers for urging the centering levers toward the original position, and a pair of arms each connected to the centering lever. When the lower transfer unit is rotated in the clockwise direction to the opened position, the lower transfer unit is brought into contact to the arms to forcibly move the centering levers toward the closer position against resilient force of the spring so that the centering levers press each side edge of the bill for centering.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,150 to Oleksandr Onipchenko et al., demonstrates a banknote centering device that comprises an enlarged slot for receiving a banknote longitudinally, V-shaped side engaging members associated with the slot and movable from an open position either side of the slot to a narrow position defining a minimum position between the side engaging members, a banknote drive wheel formed with three corner engaging portions for driving a banknote from an insert position to a centering position where the banknote is free to move within the slot, and a drive arrangement for moving the side engaging members in a controlled manner towards one another and equally spaced either side of a centerline of the slot. The side engaging member drive arrangement includes a motor for accelerating the side engaging members from the open position towards the narrow position until further inward movement of the side engaging members is opposed by a resistance of the banknote to buckling which resistance stalls the motor drive.
Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 2002-279487 to Tokimi Nago et al., presents a bill validator that comprises a conveyer for inwardly transporting a bill inserted from an inlet along a passageway, a detection sensor for converting a physical feature of the bill passing through the passageway into electric signals, a discriminative controller for receiving the electric signals from the detection sensor to decide the authenticity of the bill and to drive the conveyer in response to the result of the authenticity decision, and a centering device mounted in the validator before the detection sensor for centrally aligning the bill moved along the passageway. The centering device comprises a pair of pinch jaws movable toward and away from each other on the opposite sides of the passageway, and a centering motor for driving the pinch jaws for the reciprocal movement. The centering motor is activated to move the pinch jaws toward each other after the bill is positioned between the pinch jaws so that the pinch jaws are brought into contact to side edges of the bill, thereby causing lateral movement of the pinch jaws to make the bill come coaxial with the passageway. The centering motor arrives at a power-swing damping when the bill comes coaxial with the passageway and the resistive force against deformation of the bill becomes greater than output torque of the centering motor, then, the centered bill is inwardly transported along the passageway by the conveyer.
However, prior art bill validating devices are defective in that, as the centering device is provided separately from and in communication to a conveyer device of a bill validating device, inserted bills cannot be smoothly shifted in a reduced period of time to the centering operation and subsequent transportation through the passageway in the bill validating device. Besides, the centering device requires the increased number of structural components and complicated structure.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for discriminating valuable papers capable of smoothly performing inserting, centering and transporting operations of the valuable papers. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for discriminating valuable papers that can exactly carry out centering operation of the valuable papers with lesser number of the structural components.